DSDelivery: Shiina Ringo - Watashi to Houden

I went through a Japanese music phase when I was in middleschool and when I was a freshman. I promptly stopped that phase because of two reasons. A little bit because it was kind of embarrassing. There's a stigma attached to liking that sort of stuff and it's with good reason. But the major reason was that nobody else listened to it. What was the point of listening to music if you couldn't discuss your favorite artists with any of your friends. Well, my approach now is basically "fuck other people, they want to be me". As deluded as that might be, it lead me to make this post.



I'm like a freaking psychic because I bet you I know what you're thinking right now - "What the fuck is he thinking giving me an album in a language that I don't understand."
Fortunately for you, however, I can answer this question. Because it's still good music. I mean honestly, do you like Lupe Fiasco, John Mayer, Tim McGraw, Cascada, Chris Brown, or Miley Cyrus? Do you like them because they're speaking English or do you like them because their music sounds good?
(If you didn't realize that that was a rhetorical question, don't bother yourself with downloading the album. Don't worry about why... you probably wouldn't get it if I told you.)

Anyways, Shiina Ringo (In Japan, last name comes first)is an incredible artist. She plays guitar, piano, and about two billion and a half other instruments and she can sing really well. All in all, she is, in my opinion, a creative genius that deserves to be exposed to international audiences. That's where I come in. I'll hook you all up with a sample before you go ahead and download the whole album. And before you ask, I don't really know how to explain her genre... she's just Shiina Ringo.

La Salle De Bain - Shiina Ringo


Aisaika no Choushoku


Even if you didn't like what you heard, those two songs aren't exactly representative of what she does. Her sound varies quite a bit from song to song, so you might as well just download the album, give it a shot, and delete it if you don't like it.

(Edit: Disc 1 is a lot more "Rock" sounding and disc 2 is the one that's more diverse and whatnot.)

Watashi to Houden - Disc 1: Download

Watashi to Houden - Disc 2: Download

4 comments:

Dallas Wright said...

My little sis used to be into a lot of Japanese music. I dug some of it. This chick makes pretty good music.

Anonymous said...

She`s amaizing

Ron Moses said...

Her new album "Sanmon Gossip" is amazingly good. I'm only recently getting into Shiina's solo stuff after discovering Tokyo Jihen about a year ago. And yes, it is very difficult to get my friends to listen to Japanese music, especially if there's a female vocalist involved.

If you're interested, the most recent episode of my podcast focuses entirely on Japanese music...

DSD said...

Thanks for the tip.